Closing summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main news:
A Russian-held bridge that connects southern Ukraine to the annexed Crimean peninsula has been badly damaged and is “unusable” at present, a Moscow-installed official said on Friday, AFP reports.
The United States slapped sanctions on Friday on two Russian intelligence officers who attempted to interfere in a local American election as part of Moscow’s “global malign influence operations,” the Treasury Department told Reuters.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there will be “personnel changes” after a bomb shelter investigation into the deaths of three people who were locked out during a missile strike.
Russia said on Friday it was barring entry to more European officials in response to the EU’s decision to impose new sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, AFP reports.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces has confirmed for the first time that the main force of his offensive reserve is yet to be committed into battle with Russia, saying: “Everything is still ahead.”
Wagner group head Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday questioned Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine, criticising the country’s military top brass for “deceiving” Russian society.
At least two people were killed and several taken to hospital in a Russian attack on the Kherson region, the governor has said. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that a municipal transport company had been hit in the attack, reports Reuters.
The EU has agreed an 11th round of sanctions against Russia including export bans on third countries helping the Kremlin circumvent existing crackdowns.
Ukraine’s armed forces have stopped a Russian offensive in the east of the country towards the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman, a senior defence official has claimed.
Russia has almost doubled its floating mammal pens in Sevastopol, according to British defence officials, and they are “highly likely” to contain trained bottlenose dolphins.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 13 Russian cruise missiles heading towards a military airfield in the western Khmelnitskyi region early on Friday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Updated
Bridge connecting Ukraine to Crimean peninsula 'unusable' after attack, says Russian-installed governor
A Russian-held bridge that connects southern Ukraine to the annexed Crimean peninsula has been badly damaged and is “unusable” at present, a Moscow-installed official said on Friday, AFP reports.
“It is unusable for movement,” said Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, adding that the Chongar bridge would be closed to traffic for around 20 days.
“The bridge sustained more damage than we initially thought,” Saldo said in televised remarks, adding repairs were underway.
On Thursday, Russian officials said that a Ukrainian strike damaged a bridge that connects Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to a part of the Ukrainian region of Kherson that is partly held by Moscow.
Saldo earlier said that Ukraine had used British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike the bridge. Moscow last year blamed Ukraine for a blast on the main bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland.
Updated
